With Philadelphia serving as a county seat and capital of the Province of Pennsylvania, Penn wanted to name the city Philadelphia which he derived from the name of an ancient city in Asia Minor that is mentioned in Revelation in the New Testament.

Philadelphia is made up of two Greek words, phileo which means “to love” and adelphos, meaning “brother.”

Penn chose the name Philadelphia to be a place where religious tolerance and the freedom to worship were ensured.

It was Penn’s prayer, as a Quaker, that his “Holy Experiment” would be found blameless at the Last Judgement.

When the area was first established, Philadelphia County stretched mainly from the Delaware River west, between the Schuylkill River to the south and the Bucks County border to the north.

The western border was still undefined.

Later, Berks County (in 1752) and Montgomery County (in 1784) were formed out of what was the original Philadelphia County.

From these separations, as well as other border moves, the present day boundaries Philadelphia were formed.